Special Educational Needs

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list by local education authority the number of cases taken to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal each year since its inception, indicating in how many cases the tribunal ruled that additional support should be provided for children with special needs.[140526]

The information showing the number of appeals registered with the SEN Tribunal since 1994–95 when it was established is contained in a number of tables, copies of which have been placed in the Library. The figures show appeals by local education authority and the number upheld by the Tribunal. A case is listed as "upheld" when any of the points at issue are decided in the parent's favour. Appeal figures only are given for the academic year ending July 2000, as finalised decisions have not yet been made in all cases for that year.

Data on the number of cases since 1994 that involve additional support being provided by local education authorities are not available. Appeals can cover a range of issues and not all are to do with additional provision by the LEA; they can also include appeals on the identification of a child's special educational needs, and this may not include how these will be met.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if all local education authorities recognise dyslexia as a special educational need; and how many local education authorities have been taken to Tribunal for Special Educational Needs appeals in disputes over children with dyslexia since its establishment. [140527]

We would expect all local education authorities (LEAs) to recognise dyslexia as a special educational need.

In 1998–99, 818 of the 2,412 cases (33.9 per cent.) referred to the SEN Tribunal in England and Wales concerned children with literacy difficulties, including specific learning difficulties (dyslexia). Of cases, which were actually heard, 439 of 1,220 (36 per cent.) concerned such children. However, the Tribunal records do not enable the LEAs concerned to be identified.

We are committed as a Government to helping all children with special educational needs and are taking a number of steps to raise the awareness of dyslexia and help teachers to improve the identification and assessment of children who have or may have dyslexia, including through baseline assessment. The National Literacy Strategy has raised standards for all children, including those with dyslexia.

We are also taking work forward in partnership with some of the voluntary organisations that support children with dyslexia, including the British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Institute.